Keweenaw Report Your Source for Local News and Sports
The Houghton City Police Department says they have seen several cases of distemper in wild animals this summer.
Distemper is a viral illness that can affect dogs and other wild animals.
The illness attacks the animal’s respiratory, gastrointestinal and central nervous system, causing them to act differently, almost as if they were intoxicated.
While humans cannot catch distemper, Houghton City Police Lt. Nick Roberts said it is contagious to other animals.
“Once they get it, they’ve got it. It’s not contagious to human beings, though. We want to make that very clear, it’s not contagious, but you still do not want to go up to these animals to try to help them,” said Houghton City Police Lt. Nick Roberts. “Let the professionals do it, we’ll handle it, make sure it’s safe and try to deal with it best we can. It’s going to keep going on probably throughout the summer, before winter.”
Many cases have been found in raccoons and foxes, or nocturnal animals who were out during the day. This is another symptom of the disease.
Roberts said the department has been getting calls almost daily about distempered animals and warns that people should take extra precautions around wild animals.
“Younger kids aren’t going to know and they’re going to see a cute, little furry animal out there and they’re going to want to go pet it. And the raccoon, they’re not going to back off, they’re going to stay right where they’re at, and they could get bit. We want to protect everybody, so, just go out, be secure in your area and make sure that there’s no wildlife in the surrounding areas to make sure that they don’t have distemper,” said Roberts.
There is no cure for distemper, so make sure dogs receive the proper vaccination before it’s too late.
